The Ultimate Guide to Choose A Wedding Planner In Chennai

A wedding is one of the most important and grand functions of any family. For the couple, it’s special for the obvious reasons. For the families, it’s a great occasion to come together and meet all the relatives. For these two main reasons, a wedding is a gala ceremony that needs to be hosted in all its glory, without any glitches.

Everyone knows how much of effort goes into planning a wedding. It’s impossible for the couple and their family to take all of it on themselves, simply because it’s too much to handle and it’s after all their family’s celebration and they don’t want to be worried about sambar getting over, flowers not being ready for decors and things like that. Till a few years back, the close relatives of the family used to break it up into small tasks and that’s how everyone got lightened of the burden.

But the same has become more difficult nowadays mainly because of the nuclear families and working couples. Everyone gets to come to the function just on time and they have to get back before even the occasion could get over. This resulted in the need for someone to manage all the billion tasks that make up the perfect big day.

The role of wedding planner has evolved over the years. Especially after the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer, the trend of a big wedding frenzy was set on. Almost overnight, weddings became the fairytale lavish productions of artists and hundreds of services were born to make it one.

Again, who manages all these tasks?!

Do You Really Need A Wedding Planner?

It is impulsive to think that a wedding planner is an additional cost. But hold on…

Look at the number of venue options you have now! Mandapams have sprung up all over the city. Finding a venue is the first step. Gone are the days when you have only a handful of mandapams in the city and each of the venue being owned by a far relative. Going through each of the options, evaluating it, getting the best deal and finalizing the venue becomes a tedious job. Again you don’t really know about the quality of food and service. If it’s a banquet hall at hotels that you are looking at, each of them come with a set of facilities and restrictions. How about someone who has done weddings in few of these venues and has a fair knowledge about them?

Venue is just the first step. Look at the other million things that go into making this day into a memorable, cherishable, fairy-talish occasion that the couples want it to be! Decors, stage, orchestra, catering, bridal makeup, jewelry and all the jazz! Each of the service multiplied by five vendors! That is the minimum amount of brands/people you need to contact to design the day to its perfection!

Besides, people are not really romantic anymore about the how-we-used-to-enjoy-planning-a-wedding way. Everyone has a packed week and nobody has any time or energy left.

But you need to make informed decisions when it comes to hiring a wedding planner in Chennai, as it is quite difficult to spot the real one amongst the crowd of self-proclaimed wedding and event planners.

Arvind of Memorabilia Events, Chennai is concerned about the number of wedding planners in Chennai. He says,“If I’m a caterer with 10 years of experience, I can definitely get you vendors for all your wedding needs. But that doesn’t mean I’m a wedding planner! When someone says that he can get you other vendors as well, but his main service is catering or decor, then you need to careful. Because they can get you vendors and best prices. But you still need to manage them on your own. Similarly, if they give you an album with beautiful design to choose from, be cautious. A wedding planner sits with you, understands your wants and creates it the way you envisioned than telling you to choose from a list. He also stays on the day of the wedding and makes sure everything goes right.”

What Services Does A Wedding Planner Offer?

In a nutshell, all that is needed and wanted for a wedding. Wedding Planning has also become a discovery platform. When you start planning for a marriage, you would be surprised at all the creativity and services that have sprung. Like how you would’ve been surprised by the concept of theme weddings 3 years back.

Wedding planner guides you through the entire process of hosting a wedding, co-ordinates with all the vendors and makes sure everything goes on as planned on your Big Day.

Budget Management For Your Wedding

Making and monitoring the budget for the overall ceremony and also for each of the vendor services. Budget is one of the criteria that you should keep a tap on with the wedding planner and it’s important to stay updated and make any changes if needed. You don’t want to be overwhelmed by the end of the function.

Event Timeline

An event timeline is made including the designing and production schedules of the whole preparation and the final event.

Vendor Management

Referring vendors, obtaining quotes, getting the best deal, contracting, coordinating and communicating with them. This is the part where a wedding planner comes in as a boon for you. They will save you an unbelievable amount of time, effort and cost.

Venue Management

The first decision to make once you do the budget breakdown is to find the venue. You need to pick a venue that can accommodate your guest list, situated conveniently for your guests, suits your wedding theme and well within your budget. Fixing a venue involves contacting multiple mandapams or banquet halls, checking availability, visiting the venue for inspection, testing the food and then finally signing the contract. There are a few tricks of the trade here, knowing which you can get cut your venue costs by about 30%. A wedding planner in Chennai should have a fair idea of the hotels and banquet halls in Chennai and their prices.

Catering and Menu

If it’s a banquet hall in a hotel, then you need not worry about repeating the process for selecting a catering vendor. But if it’s not, then you need to hire a caterer and coordinate with them by giving them right details about the guest list, menu and beverages.

Wedding Invites

Once you have zeroed in on the wedding venue, you are all set to print the wedding invites and start inviting the family and friends. When it comes to designing your wedding invite, the sky is the limit for creativity! Wedding planner assists you in designing the invite in the wedding theme, coordinating with the vendor and getting it done.

Decor

After understanding your vision of the Big Day, conceptualizing the entire ambiance including the floral setups, lighting and other decors in the best way defines how it is going to materialize. Hiring the right vendor each of those needs is again extremely important.

Wedding Ceremony

Making the required arrangements for the actual wedding ceremony including the priest, pooja items and the like.

Bridal Styling

Bridal styling includes the make-up and bridal wear. It’s her day and extreme care should be taken so that she looks her best at her wedding.

Photography & Videography

Hiring the best photographer is tricky as their schedules get tight for muhurtam dates. Finding the right one, arranging for pre-wedding photo shoots as well as for the wedding defines how the beautiful moments would be captured.

Coordinating on the date of wedding

This is the most important time when your wedding planner becomes your savior. They make sure that all are in place and ready for the event. They closely monitor all the activities during the function and be ready for any contingencies. You get to spend all your time with your guests and cherishing the gala event.

Honeymoon Packages

Yeah! It is a part of their services. They help you out in planning, scheduling and arranging accommodation for your post-wedding getaway too!

What Should You Look For When Choosing Your Wedding Planner?

There is no doubt a wedding planner is there to help you out; to create a beautiful place to host your wedding and to make sure the entire ceremony goes on without any glitch. When you place all this at the hands of one individual, it better be someone who can execute it! You don’t want to end up with someone who over promises and under delivers.

Divya Jennifer of Red Thread Events says,“Of course the expertise of the wedding planner is foremost. But also consider how friendly and easy they are to work with. What you want them to do is design your wedding in the way you dream it and not the way they could do the best!”

It’s worth all the time and effort to find the right wedding planner because from then on you’ll be relieved off all the chores. Asking the following questions will help you understand the wedding planner better. It’ll give you a better judgment of how well he/she can understand your needs and materialize the same up to your satisfaction.

How is his portfolio?

Be sure to ask for his portfolio. Take a glance at his past works, especially weddings. Enquire about the various vendors involved in the event. Portfolio and experience is a very good measure of judgment.

Does he understand your vision?

Convey all that you have in mind regarding the theme, decor and everything and get a sense of how well does he/she understands your vision.

How are the vendor relationships?

How many vendors does she work with? Can she work with other vendors whom you could suggest?

Are there any wedding packages?

They usually have wedding packages which are more cost-effective. However, if you are going to customize it, make sure if she can work well within your budget.

How is the pricing and payment policies?

Does she charge a flat rate or a percentage commission? Will she provide a detailed list of items included in her fee as well as all the expenses?

Asking these questions will put both the parties in better perspective. All that matters is both of you get on the same page regarding how the wedding should look on the final day and in what budget. Then it’s just a matter of choosing among the options the wedding planner gets on the platter. Everything else will be taken care.

One of foremost and critical step when it comes to wedding planning is to find the perfect venue that suits your needs. With 500+ venue options in Chennai, at BigFday.com, we help you find the best venue depending on your ambiance, location and budget needs. Enquire with us for up to 45% discounts at top hotels in Chennai including 5 Star hotels. Check out this this page for the list of venues we have and the discounts we have with them.

Source : https://bigfday.com/blog/ultimate-guide-wedding-planner-in-chennai/